The present invention relates to a rearview mirror for motor vehicles.
Internal rearview mirrors are known and widely utilized. An internal rearview mirror conventionally includes a mirror, a housing in which the mirror is located and fixed to a mirror plate, an anti-obfuscation mechanism activatable by a lever and displacing the mirror between two positions relative to a support arm or an assembling device. The internal rearview mirror further has the support arm with an inferior end articulately connected to the housing, and the assembling device in which the superior end of the support arm is placed in an articulated way or which is incorporated in the superior end of the support arm. Furthermore, a base is placed on the windshield, usually by glueing and the assembling device is fixed in the base by forcing these elements into one another.
The assembling device usually includes a body composed of thermoplastic material, metal or the like, with a part of the articulation that receives another part of the articulation of the support arm. The body also has guides for forcing these elements into one another. The assembling device also includes an elastic device assembled in the body for fixing the body to the fixed base on the windshield. Optionally, it can also have guides for forcing the elements into one another. In another embodiment, the assembling device is directly incorporated in the superior end of the support arm. In this case, it includes the above mentioned superior end of the support arm, and the elastic device interacting with the fixed base on windshield.
In the conventional construction, the elastic device usually includes an elastic spring of an adequate configuration. It fits under pressure in the base fixed to the windshield and originally is isolated from the body of the assembling device, or from the superior end of the support arm. It is fixed in the body or the end by the insertion with interengagement, or by bolts, screws and the like. In another embodiment, the elastic device can include a seat provided in the superior end of the support arm, a spring inside the seat, and a sphere lodged inside the seat against the spring and having a sector which projects to the outside of the seat and is connected in the recess of the base fixed on the windshield.
The assembling devices of the conventional rearview mirrors are always composed from materials of different elements that are originally isolated and then are assembled with one another. This results in relatively complex production process. Also, another disadvantage is that the different materials act in different ways depending on conditions, such as trepidation, temperature and the like and also different reactions in the course of their service life. This can impair the adequate functioning of the set.
Accordingly, it is an object of present invention to provide a rearview mirror for a motor vehicle, which avoids the disadvantages of the prior art.
In keeping with these objects and with others which will become apparent hereinafter, one feature of present invention resides, briefly stated, in a rearview mirror which has a mirror assembly; and an assembling device for connecting said mirror assembly to a windshield, said assembling device including a first base connected with said mirror assembly provided with a fixation device, and a second base fixable to the windshield and formed so that said first base being detachably connectable to said second base, said first base having a superior face adapted to be adjacent to the windshield and provided with a resilient pawl with a projection, and said second base having a posterior edge, formed so that when said first base is forced onto said second base said pawl with said first projection first resilient deflect and thereafter said projection engages behind a posterior edge of said second base so as to retain said bases assembled with one another.
When the rearview mirror is designed in accordance with the present invention, its assembling device has a simplified structure and it is produced in a simpler manner than in the prior art.
The assembling device has an efficient functioning during the entire service life. Also, the cost of the internal rearview mirror in accordance with the present invention is lower than the cost of the conventional rearview mirrors.
The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the present invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.